Evolution of Photography

Evolution of Photography 
-- from Camera Obscura to Digital Photography

Image courtesy: 24 Hours (Toronto: Nov. 8, 2006)

(Click on the above image to view and read it in larger format)

A Receipt for Magazine Subscription-cum-Donation Gives Out History, Too

A receipt for a monthly Catholic magazine subscription-cum-donation, dated March 22, 1933

My father, Dr. Peter D'Costa, B.H., was a voracious reader -- of newspapers, magazines, and books. I inherited this trait from him! 

When he was in Calcutta (now called 'Kolkata') of British India, he had subscribed to the illustrated Catholic monthly magazine, called India. 

On receiving the subscription amount, he was sent an official receipt that still gives out, after a long 85 years, quite a bit of history that is both instructive and illuminating.

The receipt mentions the following: 

• The date of the subscription receipt was "22/3/33" [March 22, 1933].
• The name of the magazine was "India," an English-language Catholic monthly, which later became extant.
• It was published from "Nova Goa" [New Goa], "Portuguese India" [a Portuguese colony in western India]. It is interesting to note that although Portuguese was the official language of the then Goa, this English-language monthly was intended for the English-language readers of both Goa and the British India.
• The editor of the monthly was "Rev. A. P. Lopes," a Roman Catholic priest.
• The annual subscription was "Rs. 1:8:0" [Indian 1 rupee and 8 annas]. 
• My father's name was "P.D'Costa, B.H." [Peter D'Costa, Bachelor of Homeopathy] and he lived at "68 Linton Street, Calcutta" (The Linton Street is still there in the Beniapukur area of Kolkata).
• The name of the pharmacy of my father was "St. Joseph's Homeo Pharmacy."
• Rs. 1:8:0 was not only a subscription to the 'India' magazine, it was also considered "a donation towards the Missions of India."
• The editor also mentioned "your name has been added to the list of donors, for whose welfare several Masses and prayers are offered every year."

Previously, in another write-up of mine, I also mentioned how a January 9, 1943 Calcutta house rent receipt also gives out an interesting history. You may click on the following to read it: Flirting With the Past: A House Rent Receipt Speaks History 

The Quotation of the Week (April 9 - 15, 2017)

An anonymous quotation on 'the importance of knowing history,' compiled by Jerome D'Costa

Photo (a tree in the Englewood Park in Scarborough: May 18, 2015) © Jerome D'Costa

The Quotation of the Week (June 16-22, 2013)

A quotation on 'history' by Edmund Burke, compiled by Jerome D'Costa

Flirting With the Past: A House Rent Receipt Speaks History

_

A two-room-house rent receipt,
 dated January 9, 1943 (Calcutta, India)

It was 1942-1943. Calcutta (presently called Kolkata) was then in the British-ruled India. The British and their allies were fighting the deadly Second World War with the Nazi Germany and her allies -- Italy, Turkey and Japan.

The above receipt gives a picture of the renting situation. My dad, Peter D'Costa, kept this receipt with him for decades. Now I find history in it. I do not know the conversion rate of the Indian rupees during the Second World War, but at present rate Rupees 30.00 is equal to US $0.68 only!

Please see another similar write-up of mine below:

• A Receipt for Magazine Subscription-cum-Donation Gives Out History, Too. 

(Updated on January 12, 2018)